SZ/OEMU/50 - [OEMU. Ministry of Home Security - Research & Experiments Department - RE8]

SZ/OEMU/50

Sub-series

[OEMU. Ministry of Home Security - Research & Experiments Department - RE8]

1942-1945

13 files Mixed

United Kingdom. Ministry of Home Security. Research and Experiments Department. RE8

Contains correspondence and papers relating to the work of RE8. The reports discuss the effects of air raids on allied and enemy towns with particular reference to the impact on industrial production. The use of aerial photography is also discussed as is the impact on buildings and communications.

This sub-series contains correspondence, papers and reports relating to the work of RE.8. The reports deal with the assessment of the effects of air raids on British, German and enemy-occupied towns with particular reference to the effect on industrial production. Also discussed in the contents are: the use of air reconnaissance photography; and the effects of air attacks on buildings, morale, and communications. More RE.8 reports are to be found in Sub-file SZ/AEAF/2/6.

RE.8 was a section of MOHS RE established in November 1941 under the direction of J.D. Bernal with the task, initially, of producing appreciations of the general effects of air attacks on structures. In July 1942 it was expanded to become an MOHS/Air Staff collaborative operational research section under the direction of Squadron Leader D.A.C. Dewdney providing data for the MOHS, Air Ministry, War Office and Admiralty. It was also charged with providing the Air Staff with scientific advice on operational matters. A published account of RE.8’s work is to be found in volume IV of Sir Charles Webster and Noble Frankland’s The strategic air offensive against Germany, 1939-1945.